GALLERY: Reviving Aboriginal languages (fwd link)

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GALLERY: Reviving Aboriginal languages
BY:AMANDA BURDON | AUGUST-21-2013



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*An incredible project aims to revive more than 250 languages once spoken
across Australia.
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*IN THE DRY BED* of the Northern Territory’s Hanson River, words dance from
Clarrie Kemarr Long’s fingertips. Her hand signs and facial expressions are
as captivating as the hypnotic song she leads while sitting cross-legged in
the shade of river red gums.

She is accompanied by other senior Aboriginals and younger women, all of
whom speak both the Anmatyerre and Warlpiri languages. To the steady beat
of clapping hands, they sing about an ancestral barn owl that turns into a
monster and frightens a family group of hunters.
Indigenous Australian language

Clarrie has spent the morning burning ironwood twigs, for ash to mix with
chewing tobacco, and eating kangaroo tail cooked on an open fire – but she
truly comes alive in this singing and storytelling. Her appreciative
audience includes linguists who are recording with the support of Eileen’s
daughter, April Pengart Campbell. She teaches and co-ordinates the language
and culture program at nearby Ti Tree School, 180km north of Alice Springs.

April is one of a team using technology to document ancient stories told
through song, sand drawings, sign language and speech. She will include the
song recorded today – for a place called Angenty – in a book. “So the kids
can watch and learn about their country,” she tells me. “So they can
remember.”

Access full article below:
http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/journal/gallery-revival-of-aboriginal-languages.htm
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